


Partially Star Crossed

by dogmatix



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Carlos is Inhuman, Cecil is Inhuman, Dryad!Carlos, Forbidden Love, Gen, Incubus!Cecil, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-10
Updated: 2013-12-10
Packaged: 2018-01-04 05:13:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1076945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dogmatix/pseuds/dogmatix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Carlos nips over to the lab to check on an experiment and discovers a whole lot more than he expected to.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Partially Star Crossed

**Author's Note:**

> Using goddess-in-green's Native!Cecil.
> 
> The incubus!Cecil and dryad!Carlos idea kept poking at me, so there’s a pic of Cecil manifested at the end of the fic. XD (No I don’t know why there’s enmity between the dryads and the incubi. But forbidden!love was specified, so! )
> 
> Carlos has a bonsai. Somewhere. Probably somewhere in the lab - he’s certainly there more than he’s home.
> 
> Also I kinda borrowed the Devil's Trap idea from Supernatural, or at least the casual usage of it.

“Oh, darn,” Carlos said, stopping short of Big Rico’s.

 “What’s wrong?” Cecil asked, captivated by the way his perfect Carlos’ glossy hair caught the setting sun’s fiery orange glow.

 “I have an experiment I forgot to check on before I came by the radio station; if I leave it overnight I’ll have to start over.”  Carlos glanced to one side wistfully, then shook his head. “It’s nothing.”

 “Well, your lab’s right here, you can go do science quickly, I don’t mind.”

 Carlos, obviously torn, made one last attempt at chivalry.  “We’re on a date though. I mean, I don’t want my work getting in the way,” he protested half-heartedly.

 “It won’t take long, right? And besides, I’d love to see your lab,” Cecil beamed.

 Carlos gave him a quick peck on the cheek and grinned, “Thanks, Ceec, you’re the best.”

 Cecil was still happily blushing as Carlos unlocked the lab’s door and disarmed the security system.

 “I won't be a minute,” Carlos reassured his boyfriend as the fluorescent lights flickered and pinged to life.  “I just have to log the cellular growth rate of the bacteria culture. You can have a look through the microscope if you want, the growth rate is remarkable, and seem to depend on the phase of the moon – although of course that’s getting ahead of myself, I’m not sure if it’s causation or congruency… Cecil?”

 Cecil stood, rooted to the ground.  Not literally, he hadn’t been out to the Whispering Forest recently, but pretty solidly anyway.

 “Um,” Cecil found himself momentarily fumbling for words.  There was no way out of this that wouldn’t be horribly awkward, and while he had intended to tell Carlos eventually, now was not that time.  Except it looked like it was.  “So, uhm, you know that Devil’s Trap you put in?”

 Carlos looked confused.  “Yeah, Epcot looked up some wards after that whole thing with the wheat and wheat by-products to prevent possession and trap…  Wait. She painted that under the-  How did you know about it?”

 Energy thrummed through Cecil as the Devil’s Trap pushed against him, constricting and crushing and Cecil couldn’t stop his own energies from pushing back.  His arms snaked around his abdomen, trying to hold it in.  “Well, I guess it’s good that you know about demons and possessing spirits so at least I don’t have to have that conversation with you, and, Carlos, I would have told you, but it’s really not something-“

 “Cecil you’re babbling,” Carlos frowned.

 “I’m sorry!” Cecil gasped as his true nature surfaced, black shaded wings springing from his back and colliding painfully with the edge of the Trap, curling around the inside perimeter as if he were shielding himself.  His tail lashed the air behind him, and he felt his claws dig painfully into his sides.

 Carlos let out a yell as Cecil manifested, stumbling back.  At the same moment, the plants unobtrusively tucked in the corners of the lab burst into life, growing and writhing in huge vines and broad leaves from floor to ceiling, shattering out of their pots like miniature explosions.

 There was a moment of stunned silence, even the plants keeping utterly still.

 “You’re an incubus,” Carlos said, voice flat.

 “Well, I’m kind of… Yes,” Cecil admitted, shoulders drooping as his wings pulled up behind him, as if to try and hunker down behind his back.  His tail flicked its bushy tip nervously at his heels.  “And you’re a… dryad?”

 “Yes.”  Carlos sat down heavily on a tall stool, sending it grating an inch across the laminate flooring.

 Well. No wonder Carlos could navigate the Whispering Forest without a scratch.

 “Perfect. This is just perfect,” Carlos said as he slumped over, hands braced on his knees.  “I should have known. This is Night Vale, of course the best thing to ever happen to me turns out to be an incubus.”  He let out a bark of laughter that sounded only slightly hysterical.

 Cecil knew he should be decrying Carlos’ dryad-hood, railing against fate and the City Council, but, “You… really think I’m the best thing to happen to you?” he asked shyly.

 Carlos looked almost dazed when he lifted his head.

 They stared at each other for a moment before Cecil ducked his head, hiding his vibrant purple eyes. “Sorry, sorry, I mean, um.” He fell silent, hands going to tug distractedly at his tail, which had shifted to curling around his waist.

 The plants rustled, and Cecil stole a glance to the side.  The plants were pulling into themselves, shrinking and retreating until they reached their original size, sitting on the floor, potless and with earth scattered around them.

 “This is going to complicate things,” Carlos sighed.  Cecil looked back, finding Carlos standing almost within arm’s reach.

 Oh.  “I understand-“

 “Would you mind if we kept this from the rest of my team for a while?”

 Cecil blinked.  “Your… team?”

 “Two of them are also dryads, and one’s a centaur.”  Carlos smiled wryly.  “So I’m going to have to break it to them gently.  Old prejudices run deep.”

 “You don’t want to break up with me?” Cecil asked after a moment of silence, voice thick with hope.

 A root broke through the laminate flooring, breaking the Devil’s Trap that must have been under it.  Cecil felt the constrictive energies fade.

 “Not if you don’t want to break up with me,” Carlos said, reaching out to pull Cecil into a hug.  “And yes, you _are_ the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

 Speechless with joy, Cecil hugged Carlos back tightly, even his wings wrapping around Carlos.  He had the _best_ boyfriend.

 


End file.
